John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, told reporters on November 9 that the idea that his company would construct a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, MD, was "almost inconceivable." The two Calvert Cliffs reactors are owned by Constellation Energy which already withdrew from the project, leaving French partner, EDF, stranded. Exelon is about to merge with Constellation. EDF, as a foreign corporation, is prohibited by law from sole ownership of the new Calvert Cliffs reactor. EDF has been working to circumvent the law but the financial challenges were too burdensome for Constellation which opted not to move forward despite the promise of a loan guarantee from the federal government. Constellation withdrew due to financial concerns after the U.S. Energy Department asked for a fee of $880 million to compensate taxpayers for the risk they would take on a loan guarantee of about $7.6 billion, a fee Constellation said would doom the project. Read background here.